The Tulip table by Eero Saarinen, a design star

By Laëtitia Brunel MARIE CLAIRE 22/10/2020

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Imagined and designed by the Finno-American designer Eero Saarinen, the Tulip table marked its time with its airy and organic shape but also by the feat of residing on a single leg. What made her a design icon. Discover the history of this star table.

If there is one era that left its mark on design, it is the 60s! The Art Deco style and the post-war years are now far away. The conquest of space and the consumer society are on everyone's mind. A never-before-seen white table covered with an oval marble top appears and disrupts all the established codes of period furniture. This is the Tulip table designed by Eero Saarinen and edited by the American company Knoll. Portrait of this 60s design icon.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

A family from Eero

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Of Finnish origin, Eero Saarinen has been immersed in design since his earliest childhood. Son of the architect and director of the Cranbrook Arts Academy, Eilel Saarinen and the textile designer Loja Gesellius, the family moved to the United States in 1923. Eero began by studying sculpture at the Grande Chaumière in Paris, then followed a course architecture at Yale. He moved to Cranbrook Arts Academy to work on furniture design and architecture alongside his father.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

There, he met a certain Charles Eames, then his father's assistant. They will become real friends, driven by the same desires: to discover new materials and to develop new production processes. In 1940, the two designers decided to join forces to enter the Competition: Organic Design in Home Furnishings, organized by MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. They offer several seats molded in plywood covered with foams with rounded and sensual shapes. They won first prize in all categories. The duo is propelled to the forefront of the modern American furniture scene. This award will influence their respective careers.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

During his stay at the Cranbrook Arts Academy, Eilel Saarinen introduced his son to Florence Schust. They will become inseparable in the search for an avant-garde design. Young designers form a strong friendship. A sincere critic, Florence will speak of Eeero as a “traveling companion”. She would become better known as Florence Knoll . Married to Hans Knoll, she will revolutionize the layout of company offices. A revolution led with his friend Eero Saarinen. Together, they edit a first armchair: the "Womb Chair". But Eero Saarinen has another idea in mind ...

An Eero of contemporary design

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

The designer finds this world: "Ugly, confusing and agitated" and wishes to put an end to this "jungle of feet" which is woven under the tables. With his initial training as a sculptor, he embarked on the design of the Pedestal Group, a set made up of tables and chairs with single legs. A proven perfectionist, his idea was to create a piece of furniture in one piece. Eero Saarinen is known for tapping into his Finnish roots and being inspired by the organic and graceful forms of nature. During 5 years, from models to models, he will seek to obtain curves and perfect proportions for his new furniture. It was then that the idea for the Tulip table began to germinate ...

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

The birth of a design star

Knoll publishes this first table consisting of a round carrara marble top supported by a single machine-polished aluminum foot, then varnished with a Rilsan coating (a thermoplastic polymer including a plasticized paint): the Tulip table by Saarinen hatches . The Tulip table starts from a round leg that projects out into an inwardly curved stem on which a round white marble top with black veins rests. To protect the top-quality table top from dust and liquids, Knoll decides to coat the marble with a protective layer of polyester. Thanks to the slightly bevelled edge of its top, the table blooms like a flower in the decor. With her, ends the "miserable clutter of feet" under the table!

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

With its organic and airy look, the Tulip table fits equally well in the kitchen, the dining room or even outdoors. Some will recognize the organic style of the JFK airport in New York that the architect designed a few years earlier. Essentially built on the basis of curves and elusive lines, this terminal takes the form of a bird about to fly away. The forms of nature are already present in the works of the designer.

But let's come back to the Tulip table: it is available as a dining table, coffee table, end of sofa, top in white resin, in wood, in marble, white leg, black leg, oval, round ...

Technical prowess and immediate success, Eero Saarinen's Pedestal Group marks its era. As for the cult chairs that accompany this table, Eero initially wanted to make them in a single material. They will also consist of an aluminum foot but ultimately it is a fiberglass shell painted white which will constitute the seat.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

A table often copied, never equaled

The Tulip table remains the most emblematic piece of the Finno-American designer. The prize won with Charles Eames, the Organic Design in Home Furnishings, will have greatly inspired his entire career and will form the basis of his aesthetics recognizable among miles, a pronounced taste for organic shapes and sensual curves.

From the 1960s to the present day, the Pedestal Group and more precisely the Tulip table have never ceased to seduce! Still produced by the Knoll company, this modernist-looking table is a real bestseller.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.